Similar Twist of the Soul
by Aeoliander
Summary: Nearly a year after the failed jinchu, Yukishiro Enishi and Seta Soujirou run into each other on a back country road in Japan. Wait.... They already know each other? What are two guys to do except discuss a few things over sake? NO LONGER ONE SHOT!
1. Drinking Game

Summary: Seta Soujirou and Yukishiro Enishi run into each other on a back country road in Japan then discuss a few things over sake. One Shot. Post-Series.

Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin. Nobuhiro Watsuki and whoever publishes him in this country and the next does. I'd be flattered if you sued, but please don't.

* * *

Soujirou couldn't understand why he did it. Though that wasn't saying much, because he no longer understood why he did much of anything. One moment he was minding his own business on the leafy road between some village he didn't know the name of and another one even closer to the middle of nowhere, quietly keeping his own company away from the other travelers on the road.

Then he saw the other man, recognized the silver hair, the distinctively Continental clothed, and the tachi slung over his shoulder. And suddenly he was calling and running up to someone that was all but a complete stranger.

"Is that- Hey, it is. Hey there! Good evening, Yukishiro-san! Long time no see! What in the world are you doing here? I thought you hated Jap- Urk!"

Caught by the throat, Soujirou didn't resist as the man threw him backwards against a tree and pinned him there with one hand.

"Do you have to shout my name?" he hissed dangerously, his eyes flickering towards the two men passing them by on the road.

"Ease off Yukishiro-san," Soujirou rasped as best he could with most of his wind-pipe cut off. "Nobody knows you here."

Yukishiro Enishi squinted from behind his sunglasses as though trying to remember a face. Soujirou hoped he would be able to do so before forcing him to pass out. He smiled weakly, trying to aid the process. Once he smiled, Enishi sighed instantly in recognition and released him.

"If you're looking for a sword, you'll have to go somewhere else. I'm not in that business anymore. You'll just have to stop running through them so quickly."

"That's all right," Soujirou wheezed, clutching at his now-very-tender throat. "I guess I'm not exactly in that business anymore, either."

* * *

Enishi remembered when he had listened to Gein report on what he witnessed and heard about the fall of Shishio Makoto's organization. Though he had been relieved that Himura Battosai had survived to suffer his jinchu, Enishi couldn't help but feel a little disgusted at how easily some of the member of the Juppongatana had fallen. Especially Seta Soujirou.

When Soujirou had first arrived on his doorstep in Shanghai, Shishio's errand boy, carrying a list of orders that would finally finance Enishi's own expedition to Japan, Enishi hadn't known whether to be surprised or amused. Perhaps recognizing something familiar about the boy, he had known exactly what would happen when the guards started to turn Soujirou away from the gates. He didn't warn them. Let them learn the hard way that the boy had no sword aura.

After that Soujirou had placidly accepted a change of clothes from his bloodied ones and settled into negotiations with Enishi, his quiet, self-assured smile never wavering from place. It had been faintly impressive.

Yes, Enishi had almost been disappointed to hear the story. Looking at the boy now, after having had his own encounter with Himura Kenshin, Enishi didn't know what to think of him. Now that he knew Himura's... power of persuasion.

For all his subtle madness, Gein had been an excellent informant. But there had been one thing the puppeteer hadn't been able to tell him. He probably hadn't even noticed. It was all too clear to Enishi as they traveled side by side though.

"Seta-kun... You have a sword aura now."

Soujirou blinked in surprise and held his hands up for inspection as though Enishi had just informed him he was covered in mud. "Oh that. Yes, it seems I can't help it anymore."

"It still doesn't react much," Enishi said, for the moment allowing himself to be interested. He took a menacing step towards Soujirou, forcing the boy to put his guard up before he could realize what Enishi was doing. Soujirou's eyes widened slightly, otherwise he showed no reaction.

"But it's definitely there," Enishi said, nodding smugly. "Of course, that could always be explained by the simple desire to die."

Soujirou gestured vaguely for the road behind them, his smile a ghost of the one Enishi had seen in Shanghai. "No, I can't say I'd mind that. I've given enough people the chance to do it."

Enishi took a moment to really look at him then. The boy seemed to be taking the minimal amount of care of himself possible and still be able to continue breathing. Even more odd was the complete lack of any sign of blood on his clothes. Blood that wasn't obviously from one of the various cuts on his limbs, that is.

"What happened to you anyways?" Soujirou inquired, seeming to take in Enishi's appearance in the same manner. "You're not quite the same either, are you. Don't tell me you've gone soft."

Enishi snorted, "What even makes you say such things?"

"Because you didn't try to kill me when I shouted your name, Yukishiro-san," Soujirou murmured.

"But- I-" Enishi glanced at him sharply and found the boy's eyes were strangely calm for that moment. Not blank like they had been in Shanghai, just calm. "Because you didn't even try to resist."

"Because _you_ weren't going to kill me," Soujirou said firmly.

They walked onwards for a couple long minutes in silence. The two young men had thought they had grown used to the quiet. It surprised them both to learn that was just because they had grown used to being alone. Enishi broke first. "I had my own run-in with Himura Kenshin," he frowned, surprised at himself for being willing to tell the boy anything.

Soujirou balked, his eyes shocked. "I had the impression that Himura-san wasn't going to go after any more of the members of Shishio's organization!" Enishi's eyebrows quirked upwards slightly. Though he was no longer attached to any of Shishio's former plans, this boy was somehow still loyal to the organization in his own strange way.

Just as Enishi would always be loyal to Tomoe's memory. She just wasn't driving him towards jinchu anymore. "No. I had... my own reasons to seek him out."

"Ah," Soujirou murmured, hardly understanding but disinclined to ask for an explanation. Then he brightened once more. "Well! It's always good to see someone from the old days, especially when they're not trying to kill me. Since we're going in the same direction for now, how about some sake? My treat."

* * *

The village was too small to support any decent kind of inn and as Enishi suspected, the sake at the one they did find was of poor quality and fiercely watered down. But Soujirou was making up for that by drinking greater and great quantities of the stuff. By early evening, the boy had already driven off most of the other customers from the drab common room with his loud conversation and laughter.

Inexperienced with the Japanese drink, Enishi went at a slower pace. Since it was free though, he made sure to have his proper share. For once it felt good to let down his guard. It felt like freedom.

"And then the bastard pulls some ultimate move on me. Ama- amakaka..." Soujirou trailed off, frowning quizzically into his cup, perhaps hoping to find the answer there.

"Amakakeru no hirameki," Enishi prompted, remembering it well.

"Yeah! That's it!" Soujirou grinned happily down at his cup as though it had been the thing to speak. "Anyways, there's nothing you can do about it once you realize what's coming. You just have to take it. Hurt like hell, you know?"

"No, I wouldn't know. I wasn't feeling much physical pain at the time."

"Lucky jerk. I thought he was ripping me in two, _with a frickin' sakabatou_. Took forever for my ribs to heal. Look!" Without further warning, Soujirou lifted the ragged hem of his shirt up to his shoulders, revealing the faint knobs down his side where a series of ribs had clearly snapped in two.

Two women at the table nearby blushed and leaned in towards each other to discuss the even in whispers, though Enishi couldn't guess whether it was in approval or disapproval. Soujirou certainly looked scrawny on the outside, but underneath he was a swordsman.

"Seta-kun, put your shirt back on," he sighed, all the while aware that he sported the signs of the exact same wound on his own abdomen. Soujirou did as he was told, if only because he doubled up with another fit of laughter.

Finally losing his patience, the inn keeper, a squat balding man with huge biceps from lifting so much food, hurried towards their table. His expression spoke for itself. "What the hell is wrong with your friend?"

"He's not my friend," Enishi shrugged.

The inn keeper ground his teeth as though it did not matter to him if Soujirou was the Emperor Meiji himself.

"He's-" _harmless_, Enishi had been about to say then thought better of it. "He's drunk."

"No. I've seen drunk. That boy's downright nuts and I want him out of here."

"We're paying you good money."

"Not good enough for this!" the man sniffed, snatching at Enishi's shoulder. "Now I'm going to ask you one more time-"

Enishi's hand shot out. He caught the inn keeper's wrist in a vice grip, making it very clear that all he had to do was squeeze a little harder and he would start breaking bones. "You are very lucky," he said in a harsh whisper just loud enough for the man to hear. "A few months ago I wouldn't have bothered. But today I'm going to warn you that you are dealing with one of the most dangerous swordsmen alive."

"I suggest," Soujirou gasped, wiping desperately at his streaming eyes, "That you run for your life."

The inn keeper staggered backwards once Enishi released him, clutching his wrist. Soujirou's outburst seemed to make him think that it was all some kind of joke, but just to be sure, he retreated farther towards the kitchens out back. Soujirou watched dreamily as the man scampered off. "He'll call the local cops on us now, for sure," he giggled.

"So what? From the looks of you, you've gotten away from plenty of cops already."

"True enough."

And with that, Soujirou's grin disappeared as quickly as the laughing fit had come over him and he collapsed against the table, burying wracking sobs in his arms. The two women across the hall got up hastily from their table and made for the exit. "Bleeding hell, Seta-kun," Enishi scowled, this time taking a swig straight from the sake bottle and not bothering with his cup.

"I'm sorry..." Soujirou mumbled amid his tears. "I held so much back... For so long... And now it's all just coming out... at bad moments..."

"So you've lost your mind," Enishi remarked as though just realizing this fact. He had no other reaction to this observation and reached over to refill Soujirou's cup as though they were merely discussing the weather.

"If I had I wouldn't be so different from what I was before." Soujirou moaned once then gritted his teeth in an attempt to get ahold of himself and clutched at his head. "It's just so... Life was so easy when I was with Shishio-sama. At least everything made sense!"

Everything before Himura...

"Everything had a purpose," Enishi agreed quietly.

Soujirou's lips twisted, "I don't know if I'd go that far-" He jerked, coming out of himself long enough to look at Enishi, "Oh, you were talking about yourself, weren't you." Enishi just glared at him and took another swig from the bottle. Soujirou cocked his head, "So who was it?"

_Tomoe... _"Who?"

"The person Himura-san killed that was close enough to you to make you want to get revenge."

Numb as he was from the sake, somehow Enishi managed to feel shocked. He would have thought the boy was slathered enough to actually see Tomoe over Enishi's shoulder. Or her name written on his face. The boy misread his expression though, seeming to take it as a denial.

"Now-" Soujirou started to lean his elbow on the table, missed, tried again and pointed a finger at Enishi. "Now if we're talking sword aura Yukishiro-san, yours has sure as hell changed. That week I spent in Shanghai was enough for me to know that your mind screamed all day and all night for vengeance. I just couldn't figure out against who and what for until. I always kinda thought you should get a woman like Shishio-sama did. Yumi-san was always very helpful whenever his burns-"

"Seta-kun," Enishi growled in warning.

"All right, all right, I was just saying..." Losing his train of thought, Soujirou sighed and looked down again. After a moment of tears, his attention came back to Enishi.

"So who was he?" Soujirou squinted, gauging Enishi's reaction. Enishi said nothing, tried not to move, kept his eyes fastened on his drink. "All right, then who was _she_?"

Soujirou was that good at reading him and he was still drunk out of his mind. Faintly impressive.

"My sister. And if you mention the subject again, I will forget I ever met Himura Kenshin and cut your throat out."

Soujirou hiccupped a moment, pretending to be completely unaware that Enishi had made any kind of threat. "I've never had anyone as important to me as that," he whispered.

Enishi's first instinct was reach for the tachi propped against his seat. But when he looked at Soujirou, his eyes flew wide and he dropped the sake bottle, letting it shatter against the floor. Hugging his knees up against his chest, Soujirou didn't even seem to notice.

She leaned over Soujirou, touching his shoulder gently and gazing imploringly at her brother. Her soft perfume over-rode the stench of sake in the common room, clearing Enishi's senses.

"Tomoe..."

Soujirou glanced up, wiping at his nose, "What did you say?"

His eyes still focused over Soujirou's shoulder, Enishi spoke slowly, "You're not going to get me to kill you, Seta-kun."

"But you just said-!"

"I know what I said. Seta-kun..." Enishi blinked and shook his head. "You smell awful."

"Long weeks on the road," Soujirou mumbled between breathy sobs.

"Well, if you're going to come with me, you're going to have to get a bath."

Soujirou jumped and stared at him, "What?"

"I've just realized. My organization is probably still selling illegal weapons to Japan. Spreading pain in my name, as Himura would say. I suppose it would be helpful to have someone with me while I dismantle it."

There. Enishi had just offered him a purpose. It was small but it was something. Maybe that would make Tomoe happy.

"But no killing?" Soujirou asked after a moment.

Enishi cocked an eyebrow at him, "You've taken some kind of vow, have you?"

Soujirou stuck his tongue out, "Nothing so fancy. I just..." He ducked his face and leaned over to tie his sandal, his tone turning serious, "I want to try it Himura's way. Just for a little while."

* * *

I'd love to hear what you think so please review!

Um...

My only defense is that everyone gets a little OOC when they're drunk ;; I do kinda see Soujirou as someone who just blurts stuff out, though.


	2. Play Catch

Similar Twist of the Soul

Chapter Two: Play Catch

By Aeoliander

* * *

I know I said that it was only going to be a one-shot but I couldn't resist! The idea will not get out of my head.

Dedication: To everyone who understood the decisions I made in the last chapter. I'll trust you to tell me the moment I step over the line. Oh yeah, and to my wonderfully helpful beta-reader, you know who you are :)

Warning: This chapter contains violence, some of it sorta graphic. Hence the rating T. But hey, Rurouni Kenshin is rated T itself so this shouldn't be much of a change for you.

And despite objections, Soujirou will continue to say what everyone else is thinking, but is too hesitant to say themselves.

Disclaimer: As usual, I do not own Rurouni Kenshin. Please don't sue.

* * *

_Not now. Not now. Not Now. Notnownotnownotnownotnownotnownotnow..._

Soujirou gripped the hilt of his bokken, hoping Enishi wouldn't notice that his hands had started to shake. But that was far too much to hope for.

"Seta-kun," Enishi hissed from his hiding spot in the alcove across the hallway from Soujirou. "_Not here_."

"I know," Soujirou breathed. He had known exactly what he was getting into when he agreed to follow Enishi. Assassins from Shanghai had been arriving at the rate of about once a week, keeping them occupied and satisfactorily squashing any chance of conversation about the past. Or worse, the future.

Fending off attackers had been easy on the road. There had always been a different route to take, some official on whose doorstep to dump a bound and gagged would-be assassin, anything to throw off someone following them. But here, on a ship traveling down the rolling summer Sea of Japan, it was a different battle field. Soujirou swallowed hard.

Wonderful, his throat was dry too.

Soujirou's eyes had long since adjusted to the dark of the narrow hallway between the crews' quarters and the main hold, the pinch point they had set up for their most recent attacker. He took himself in quietly, his shaking hands and tense posture. The eyes of the swordsman that had served Shishio-sama knew instantly what was wrong. The emotion was rolling off him in waves.

_It's fear_, his old instincts told him. _And whoever's coming out of the dark is going to be able to kill you because of it._

But those instincts could only tell him that he was afraid, not what exactly he was afraid of. And Soujirou had never expected that question to be important.

It wasn't fear for himself, Soujirou knew that much. Then who else was there? Enishi had proven well enough that he could take care of himself.

They were supposed to be laying in wait, silent as cobras, perfectly ready for the next assassin that had come for Enishi's head. Soujirou understood how conversation might not be a top priority to Enishi in that moment. But after fighting off three or four of them, Soujirou was having difficulty keeping his respect for the danger his opponents represented.

"We almost killed the last one," he murmured.

There was a pause and the silence grew so that Soujirou might as well have been alone in the dark. Then: "We got him to the physician in time."

Soujirou said nothing to this and that in itself said very much indeed. Enishi shifted a shoulder that was threatening to become stiff while pressed into a corner. "We didn't _kill_ him," he repeated.

"Yes," Soujirou agreed ironically. "But you'll forgive me if I say that I doubt you care quite so much about that as I do."

"You don't know a thing about it," Enishi snapped. A moment passed then he continued in a calmer manner. "Besides, you don't understand who we're dealing with. The mafia of Shanghai are... scum."

This time Soujirou let the conversation die, content to wait in the darkness for the sign of the assassin's movements. He didn't know that made him more uneasy, that Enishi called them scum, or that he was fighting alongside the man who had once been their leader.

* * *

The assassins had started arriving nearly a month after his failed jinchu, about the time it would have taken for news of Enishi and Wu's arrest to reach the organization, tempers to rise, and to track down Enishi's whereabouts. If Enishi had been himself, he would have considered doing something with his hair to appear less conspicuous.

Enishi couldn't help a small smirk. Even if his former mafia performed a complete over-haul of their operations, which would be enormously expensive in itself, they still wouldn't be able to escape Enishi's intricate knowledge of their methods. He certainly understood their frustration about their sudden loss in leadership. He would have done the same thing in their place.

At least Enishi could say he had warned Soujirou what he was getting into.

A year ago Enishi might have been amused by Soujirou's imbalances. He would have known exactly how to drive the younger man just long enough to be effective in his jinchu against Himura Battousai. Soujirou's abilities probably would have been even more useful than some of the idiots he had first allied with when he came to Japan, Enishi reflected with faint bitterness.

Except... Soujirou had proven impossible to predict. He hadn't had any more collapses like the one in the inn. But this hand shaking certainly wasn't the worst thing Enishi had seen in the past few weeks. Sometimes Soujirou was a wreck before the assassins showed their faces. Other times he was cold as the boy Enishi had met in Shanghai and proceeded to kick the crap out of the enemy, with barely any sign he was even capable of emotion.

Enishi immediately decided to part ways with him the moment they reached the Port of Japan.

It wasn't as though Enishi had much reason to want to stay alive. All of Enishi's plans of how he was going to spend his life after the jinchu had been destroyed, partly by that idiot Wu Heishin and partly by Himura opening his eyes. He had thought to take the first ship out of Japan, perhaps to settle some place quiet in Europe, across the world from Japan and as far away from his memories as possible.

That thought had died along with his justification for all the pain he had inflicted. Suddenly the family in Shanghai he had slaughtered for their happiness was no longer a gift of fate. They had died for nothing. Everyone after that...

Enishi shook his head gently. He couldn't think of those things in that moment. Despite the general hell his life had been, for some reason he still wanted to keep living it. And he wasn't going to be able to do that much longer with an emotionally unstable swordsman guarding his back.

Even if it was what Tomoe would have wanted. She always had been an extremely unreasonable sister. Enishi knew now that his decision to invite Soujirou alone had been a foolish one, perhaps inspired by too much sake. So what was he supposed to do about any of it? Go back on his offer?

A shiver ran down Enishi's back. Soujirou glanced over at him, even that slight bit of motion capturing his attention. "What is it?"

"A ghost," Enishi muttered.

He felt Soujirou's eyes on him in the dark, calm and cold in stark contrast to the emotions betrayed by his hands. "You're a very creepy man sometimes, you know that Yukishiro-san?" Soujirou said good-naturedly.

"And it's served me well, for the most part," Enishi remarked, deciding he liked it better when Soujirou's attention was on himself rather than Enishi. Then Soujirou's hands began to tremble once again.

"It really is frustrating," Soujirou smiled faintly as he marveled down at his open palm.

Cursing inwardly, Enishi sighed and ducked out of the alcove, "You're in no condition to fight. Just stay here."

"But-"

"I'll take care of it," Enishi snapped, striding past Soujirou.

_Again_, he thought darkly as he darted down the narrow hallway.

* * *

Soujirou knew he wasn't in any condition for a true battle. He wasn't sure if he ever would be again.

That didn't mean he was wrong when he had been about to tell Enishi that there was more than one assassin this time.

All the same, Soujirou made his way out on deck just to make sure. There was no harm in checking, even if Enishi wanted him to stay put.

"It's almost like Rengoku," Soujirou said aloud once the cool night air touched his face and he looked up at the clear sky sparkling with stars.

The way the boiler made the deck vibrate up through his calves, the awful smell coming from the smoke stacks above them, all of it reminded him of Shishio's ironclad. It was even the same time of year, another warm summer close on the horizon. These men must have either been far too overconfident in their skills or desperate to get Enishi's head if they thought they could sneak on board on a night like this.

Even the great Himura had been forced to take the direct approach on a night like that.

"No," Soujirou leaned against the railing to look at the black, churning water all around them. "It's exactly like the Rengoku, isn't it?"

And Enishi was just another man who wanted nothing more than a blind, unthinking follower.

"What have I done now?" Soujirou pressed the palm of his hand against his forehead and closed his eyes. The ship's constant noise was giving him a headache.

"Tch?"

The breath was nearly drowned out by the sound of the engines below deck. But it was more than enough for Soujirou. He opened his eyes.

A figure dressed in black froze in front of him, almost invisible against the dark sea beyond. Soujirou couldn't resist a faint smile. He wouldn't let Enishi forget this one.

"Good evening," Soujirou murmured, hoping the greeting would sound too polite to spook the man. "I suppose there is some advantage to my pathetic sword aura if it keeps letting people stumble over me like this."

Setting himself in the assassin's path, Soujirou drew his bokken from his belt in one smooth, easy motion. His hands, after giving him so much trouble before, recognized the familiar motion and finally decided to calm. The assassin, however, had other ideas about fighting.

"Um, you might want to put your guard up." There was another pause as the assassin simply regarded him. "Please?" Soujirou said helplessly.

But the man obviously didn't think any better of Soujirou's abilities than Enishi did. The shadow against the sea disregarded Soujirou's presence, bounding up onto one of the high storage crates stowed out on deck.

"Oi!" Soujirou shouted after him. "Come back here!"

The assassin was forced to duck abruptly, dodging the bokken haphazardly thrown at his head. The bokken struck at full speed against the crate behind him, crumpling the side of the box as a crack appeared down the length of the blade. Soujirou flinched. Enishi would kill him for loosing another one. The things were getting expensive. The assassin rounded on Soujirou, indignance written across his face.

Soujirou's shoulders sagged in relief, "I'm very pleased that I missed. Now, perhaps I can have your full attention?"

Still not speaking, the assassin lunged and drew his long dagger in the same move.

Years of training told Soujirou to catch him then twist up and to the right, breaking the man's wrist. But Soujirou hesitated. If he moved too fast, the bones would shatter into needle thin fragments. Some might even enter the blood stream and travel up towards the heart. Or the brain.

Instead Soujirou rolled out of the shadow's way. _Disengage?_ his instincts roared, _Since when do I- Duck again now._

Soujirou did just that, hearing the other man's dagger whistle quietly past his neck. Soujirou met him as best he could without his bokken and found himself falling easily into the old rhythms he had practiced with Shishio since he was a child.

The assassin obviously wasn't as well trained when it came to taking hits. Perhaps the man was too used to giving them. Soujirou read surprise rippling from his opponent every time he landed a strike. He could dodge and throw the man all night if he had to, but what if the man landed once the wrong way...?

The assassin spun out too far and there was a faint snap as his ankle joints popped with the impact. "Be careful!" Soujirou flinched at the sound, "You'll be all off on your left side now."

Thoroughly ignoring any attempt at conversation at that point, the assassin recovered and attacked with another high kick. Soujirou sighed as he dodged, ignoring the very clear shot he had to stab upwards into the man's abdomen.

There were just too many ways to destroy the human body.

* * *

The fight had been a short one and better yet, there was no mess on deck to be cleaned up. Enishi respected Soujirou's decision not to kill... when the boy was around of course. Enishi could hardly be blamed if his opponent had decided the fight wasn't going his way and dived overboard for escape.

Now if only his vision would hold still.

_Too easy_, something warned him as he tried to collect himself from the floor.

So far there had been a pattern of increasing skill and deadliness as each assassin arrived. It would have been foolish to think that the pattern would halt just because they were out at sea. Which could only mean one thing: the first man was a diversion for someone else.

Enishi cursed and yanked himself to his feet whether his body liked it or not. He had been stupid enough to leave Soujirou alone too. There was no hope for it now. He'd probably find the boy drowned in a pool of his own blood with his luck.

There was no sign, bloody or otherwise, of Soujirou back in the corridor where Enishi had left him. "I told him to stay put," he ground his teeth then heard a rather large _thump_ above his head, like someone being thrown to the ground by a blow. Enishi dashed towards the stairs leading towards the storage deck.

He paused at the top to take in the image of the desperate fight between killers.

As usual Soujirou was miraculously fast. Sometimes Enishi thought his eyes were following his movements, only to find the boy had appeared in a completely different place. The problem was Soujirou never seemed to take the openings his speed presented him with. Instead he hesitated each time, just long enough for his opponent to react and strike back.

Any idiot might have thought it was a little strange that his opponent wasn't already unconscious from some of the blows Soujirou was taking. But this assassin seemed content just to have a toy to beat on. Cold fury settled about Enishi's mind. He wasn't going to watch this ridiculous dance anymore.

Enishi stepped out of the shadows and hit the base of the assassin's neck with the hilt of his sheathed tachi. The man never had time to react. He slumped to the ground with a tiny moan.

Soujirou realized what had happened to his opponent instantly. His face changed, taking on a fierce glare. "Damn it Yukishiro!" he snarled, "I had him!"

Enishi blinked, having never seen the boy lose his temper before. A variety of other emotions, certainly and often in rapid succession, but not anger.

"Is that so?" Enishi leaned a hand on his tachi, propped against the ground, "It looked like he was kicking your ass to me. And where's your bokken?"

"I told you I had him! Do you realize what a blow to the head like that could do..."

Soujirou continued his rant with enthusiasm but at the same time there was a faint click and Enishi's ears began to ring. Still looking at Soujirou, Enishi cocked his head. Sometimes that worked. This time, however, the world continued to sound far away and like the whining of a drawn sword. Not that he cared very much what Soujirou was saying to him at that moment.

Then it got worse and the world swayed.

Soujirou forgot his anger instantly, having it replaced with confusion, "...wrong with you?"

Enishi's hearing returned soon enough to guess at Soujirou's question. "Nothing. It's none of your business."

That only set the young man off again. "You're damn straight it's none of my business!" Soujirou barked, accepting a line of rope from Enishi and viciously lashing the assassin's arms, legs, and mouth, seeming to take some kind of satisfaction in tying him extra tight. "What the hell am I even doing here? You aren't worth this-"

Soujirou cut off and his hands flew to his mouth. He stared at Enishi, wide eyed and hardly breathing. "I- How did I say all that?" he stammered.

Enishi returned him a tired look. He didn't seem to care about anything Soujirou had just called him. He merely seemed a bit agitated that Soujirou's shouting might wake someone else on the boat over the sounds of the engines. "What?"

Shishio would have killed him for something like this. It might not have been immediate and he probably wouldn't have seen it coming, but Shishio would have _killed_ him once he no longer had any use of his Tenken. Soujirou's hands fell to his sides and a grin broke over his face. "I mean you're scary as hell, Yukishiro-san-"

"Eh?"

"-but I still said all that!" Soujirou laughed out loud, "This isn't Rengoku all over again!"

Enishi watched Soujirou stride off, trying to figure out what the younger man had just said to make himself so happy.

Rengoku. Wasn't that the name of the ship Enishi had sold to Shishio? The one Shishio had gotten blown up on its first night of real action?

If Soujirou had just informed him that the ship they were on was not going to go the same way as Rengoku, Enishi supposed he was grateful.

* * *

Enishi discovered a few dazed moments later that Soujirou had left him the work of taking care of their captive. He nudged the man with his foot to make sure he was really unconscious. Then he sighed and sank down onto the deck, leaning heavily against the crates. He needed time to rest, to let the last wave of dizziness wear off after the fight.

"Sometimes I wonder if he doesn't even understand," Enishi said conversationally, motioning after the way Soujirou had gone. He peered down at the captive then glanced at the discarded dagger not more that five feet away. His voice went flat, "Then I remember you can't forget something like this.

"You have to die. I know that. Seta-kun knows that. There's no way we can keep you hidden on board for the next few days."

Enishi let another moment pass quietly, keeping his head absolutely still. Sometimes that helped to make the world stop spinning. Then, gritting his teeth, he pushed himself back to his feet. He picked the man up by his collar and held the limp body against the railings in preparation to throw him over the side.

"I have every right to kill you here. You would have done the same to me..." Enishi said, trying to convince himself. He had something else to consider though. "But what's it going to do to that idiot's mind if he wakes up to find you dead?"

His memory flashed with the sight of the boy's face back at the inn, so content and laughing one moment, then suddenly crumbling into tears.

Enishi grunted angrily deep in his throat. "And meanwhile what? I protect-"

Lips quirked in the darkness, the vague outline of a smile Enishi remembered from childhood. Startled, he jerked against the railing.

"P-protect? This can't be serious."

He stared a moment longer at the man's life in his hands. Then Enishi grinned ferally. "What the hell. What am I going to do, get tired of kicking the crap out of you every time you come after me? Not likely."

Enishi set off for the quarters with the assassin slung over his shoulder, hoping that tonight, maybe just this once, he would be able to get a decent night's sleep.

* * *

A quiet rustle was the first thing that brought Enishi from his nap and by then it was too late. Enishi thought Soujirou had tied the man's bonds masterfully tight and secure. He had been mistaken.

Enishi didn't move a muscle except to open his eyes, just in time to see a shadow cross crack between his open door and the wall. Whoever's steps he was hearing in the main room of their cabins, he knew they weren't Soujirou's. The boy moved silently without even realizing it.

So could Enishi when he wanted to. He snatched up the dagger they had taken off his would-be assassin and moved to put his eye to the crack with less than a whisper. Sure enough, the scarred-faced man they had removed the mask from stood in the main room, his hand on the doorknob to Soujirou's. From his hand hung an efficient looking garrote made out of a rolled bed sheet.

Enishi couldn't understand why the assassin hadn't come after him first. Was this some kind of trick? Then he saw. The assassin's hand was on Soujirou's door. He wanted vengeance first.

The assassin turned Soujirou's doorknob and Enishi moved without thinking. He wouldn't give the man time to try to break Soujirou's neck, especially in the state Soujirou was in. Soujirou might just be inclined to let him do it for all Enishi knew.

Knowing how to fight at close quarters had been essential for survival in Shanghai. The houses were narrow and some of the streets were even narrower. Enishi knew how to handle this with precision. He threw open his door, not caring that it squeaked because he was throwing it straight into the assassin.

As a credit to the man's training, he hardly made a sound as the breath was knocked out of him. Enishi pressed forward to deny the man any opening, already seeing victory waiting for him in moments. Too bad he was at such a disadvantage.

For once Enishi had no warning. The ringing in his ears came at the same time as the dizziness. Suddenly it looked like the assassin was standing horizontally on the wall and Enishi was falling to meet him. His stomach clench as his head tumbled with pain.

_Take care of yourself, Enishi-dono. In the end, it's what she would have wanted..._

"Shut up," Enishi hissed. Why would he think of that now of all times? That bastard Himura, as though he had any right to say what Tomoe wanted.

Enishi heard a soft chuckle off to left in the dark. The assassin sounded triumphant. More importantly, he was coming closer.

There is nothing more dangerous than approaching a wounded tiger backed into a corner. Enishi might have been staggering into walls, but that didn't mean he wasn't dangerous. He plunged forward in as straight a line he could manage at that point and hoped he was aiming in the right direction.

The assassin didn't see the dagger until it was too late. He stepped right into it. Hot liquid rushed over Enishi's hands before he could pull them away from the hilt.

"Shit," Enishi breathed, recognizing a killing move when he made one. The man's eyes were quickly losing their sheen. Then the man slumped against him and Enishi let him fall to the floor.

Enishi heard someone moving in the next room, which meant Soujirou was awake. Enishi rushed for the doorway, trying to cut the younger man off. "No, Seta-" Enishi began but Soujirou pushed past him with a strangling sound.

"Oh God!" Soujirou cried and collapsed to his knees in the pool of the man's blood, hardly noticing as it soaked through his pant legs. "How did this happen?"

"Will you be quiet? You'll wake the whole ship," Enishi hissed, running on instinct. There was blood on his hands. There was a great deal of blood on his hands and it was getting everywhere. His mind hazily told him that he had better start cleaning it up before it stained the floor boards too badly but shock kept his body rooted where it was.

"Damn it, I was trying!" Soujirou gasping as he laid their captive's head in his lap, completely ignoring Enishi's command. "I tried so hard not to- not to... And you just..."

Tears were running down Soujirou's cheeks again, not like the wild tears Enishi had seen when they had first met. Instead these were silent and each tear slipped down Soujirou's cheek as an individual icy looking crystal in the dark.

Enishi's eyes widened as he recognized the scene.

_Tomoe had cried the same way the night she had learned of Kiyosato's death. Her beloved was dead and it had made her more still and quiet than she had ever been before. Tears had glided down her face. Lost. Alone. Purposeless._

_Enishi had reached for her, tried to tell her he was still there..._

Someone batted his hand away violently.

"Don't touch me," Tomoe rasped in Soujirou's light tenor voice, "Don't you dare touch me right now."

Gently, as though he was cradling a child, Soujirou lifted the body into his arms and rose to his feet easily. He barely seemed to notice the true weight of the dead man. Without even a distracted glance at Enishi, Soujirou moved towards the cabin door.

"Where are you going?" Enishi asked dully.

"To take care of the body," replied Soujirou, shutting the door with a firm _click_ behind him. It was clear Enishi was not to follow him.

After the boy was gone, Enishi snapped out of his trance. He rushed towards the small cupboard that served as their washroom and got the water running, steaming hot. He had a lot of scrubbing to do. Enishi cursed himself for not saving himself a deal of trouble by simply throwing the man overboard.

_Tomoe... Tomoe, please don't cry. Please don't..._

This time the faint click and hum in his ears warned him what was coming. The whole ship felt like it flipped over and threw Enishi onto the ceiling. In reality he merely sank to the ground, his wounded senses reeling.

"Dammit," Enishi choked as he realized he was getting worse. At the same time he felt intense relief that fate had made sure Soujirou had left the room at that moment. Or else this would have lead to questions, questions, questions...

Perhaps he really did need someone to guard his back for a while longer, even if it had to be an unstable swordsman like Soujirou. But would Soujirou stay after that night? Tomoe hadn't stayed more than a week after Kiyosato's death.

* * *

The steward knew it wasn't his place to eavesdrop. But sometimes his job on the ship got so dull and the two newest passengers looked to be especially colorful characters. So when he approached their cabin to knock on the door and heard yelling, he couldn't resist leaning forward to listen for a moment.

"-were you!"

"Thanks so much for the concern."

"There's no concern involved. I'm sick of the way you reek of blood!" the older voice roared, "Now clean yourself up or I'll drown you in the sea myself."

"What do you want?" The steward jumped away from the door just in time as it flew open, only to be confronted with a man who for all accounts looked young, but for his shock of white-silver hair. He stared down at the steward coldly from behind a delicate pair of tinted glasses.

The steward caught a glimpse inside the room of a younger man stalking past into the bathroom with some fascinating stains on his calves before Enishi shifted in his way. "Eh heh heh, uh, I-" the steward stammered, edging backward. "Captain wants me to inform all the passengers that breakfast has been served in the mess."

Soujirou's head popped back into view at the mention of food. "Not you," Enishi warned him in a low tone. "You're not coming out of here before you're _clean_."

"Little brothers," the steward chuckled understandingly as Enishi stepped out into the corridor and shut the door behind him. "They never stop giving their siblings trouble."

Enishi gave the steward a blank look as though considering how he would have convinced his mother to drown the infant if Soujirou actually _had_ been his little brother. "Do you see much family resemblance?"

"A family friend then."

Enishi's eyes focused on the steward once more and this time something in them warned the man off. "You're certainly a nosey one, aren't you."

"Eh heh heh, it's just in my nature, sir," the steward gabbled, backing away a step. "This way, this way."

Breakfast was simple to put it best. The food was bland, some of it dry, and the drink was even a bit watered down. But Enishi hadn't been willing to pay for any finer passage. For one thing he and Soujirou would be less noticeable in steerage. For another he didn't want to spread his dwindling resources any thinner, especially with the police hunting down and closing his accounts daily. Because of that Enishi was willing to sit on an uncomfortable wooden bench in a crowded, dirty mess hall. He supposed one day he really ought to dye his hair...

The door slammed as someone entered. Enishi didn't bother looking up, but the steward did. He snorted something about 'matching outfits' into his food before hastily looking away from Enishi. Frowning, Enishi turned to see what the man thought was so funny.

Soujirou was swimming in a pool of white and indigo fabric. Once upon a time, that suit had been tailor made of the finest fabrics for someone a good foot and a half taller than him. Enishi took Soujirou in, his expression carefully blank.

"Are those my-?"

"I don't exactly have a change," Soujirou said tersely.

Apparently, neither did Enishi anymore.

Soujirou sank listlessly onto the bench next to the steward, took one look at the food bobbing back at forth in their bowls in time with the swaying of the ship, and shot back up. The look on his face was of someone who had just realized something was terribly wrong with his stomach. Stumbling over the hem of Enishi's pant legs, Soujirou rushed for the doorway leading out on deck. More than one passenger in the mess looked up to watch him go, shocked or appalled.

Just what they needed, to attract more attention to themselves. Enishi grimaced down at his food.

"It's the sea sickness. Gets to all the passengers sometimes," the steward said, shaking his head. Then he cocked an eyebrow at Enishi. "Shouldn't you go help your friend?" he asked tentatively.

"He's not my friend," Enishi replied, the only one who hadn't looked up from his meal.

Surprised, the steward regarded him a moment then smiled weakly, "Heh. Obviously not."

That cold declaration hung in the air as everyone tried to continue their meal. The other passengers tried very hard not to pretend they weren't staring at Enishi. Most of them failed.

"Shit," Enishi snarled under his breath at last, throwing down his chopsticks and following after the younger man.

He found Soujirou leaning on the railing at the bow of the ship. He was gazing mesmerized at the white foam waves breaking around them as the ship moved, as though he might have liked to join them. Soujirou looked up at the sound of Enishi's footsteps.

"Here," Enishi said, tossing him a rice ball he had brought from the mess hall.

But Soujirou made no move to catch it. The rice ball soared up and over the side of the ship. Both men watched with vague interest as the thing floated a moment on the waves before going under.

"You'll weaken if you don't eat anything," Enishi commented.

Soujirou produced his ghost of a smile as he gazed out over the sea. "I doubt I could keep anything down right now."

"Seta-kun, stop being a damned-"

"You killed him, Yukishiro-san."

Enishi stiffened and glanced over his shoulder to see if anyone on deck might have heard that. No one else was there. There were many things he might have said right then. _He would have killed us_, was one of them. _I was protecting you, you idiot_, was another. _It's not my fault you didn't bind him right,_ was something he very much wanted to throw at Soujirou at that point.

_Tomoe, please don't cry..._

Instead Enishi said, "I've killed many people. So have you."

"I don't understand," Soujirou shook his head as though he hadn't even heard Enishi. "You were stronger than him. You didn't have to kill him. Or... did you? In this world, the strong live, and the weak die."

Enishi leaned his elbows back onto the railing. If it meant he would keep quiet, for now Enishi would humor the boy, "That sounds about right."

"But it's not right! There was no one stronger than Shishio-sama. But he died. And I was... weaker, so much weaker than Shishio-sama, but I survived!" Soujirou pulled himself from this circle with an act of will and rounded on Enishi, "I don't understand why you had to kill him."

Enishi stared at him. Soujirou was like a child shifting through the remains of his demolished house where Enishi had stumbled into him. Now he was asking this stranger for the answers.

"I tried so hard not to kill him last night. I could have done it too, it would have been easy. I could have killed him four hundred and thirty-eight different ways. I counted. But I- He didn't- Why did I even bother if he was just going to..."

"_It's my fault Enishi-kun," Tomoe had said to him before she left their home, "Kiyosato would still be alive if I had just..."_

"_It's not your fault!" Enishi had screamed. But it hadn't been enough. Nothing had been able to make her stay. _

"Once I could have killed Kamiya Kaoru," Enishi said suddenly. "Once I convinced Himura Kenshin that I had done just that.

Soujirou's eyes were wide as they stared at Enishi, fascinated.

"I nearly destroyed him. He had been living with the same vow for eleven years, much longer than you idiot, and I broke him just by making him think he had finally failed. Even the great Himura couldn't protect something so dear to him. I was about to kill that bastard, all because of one- one pathetic life."

Soujirou couldn't tear his attention away. Shishio-sama had never been able to... This man... he was so strong! And Himura had still won?

"Sometimes Seta-kun," Enishi's eyes met his, "There's nothing you can do. I don't care what Himura says. Sometimes you're helpless as a child."

Soujirou was forced to look away. "It's... annoying," he murmured at last.

They were silent as Soujirou continued to puzzle over the events of the past night. Enishi on the other hand preferred not to think about it. _He_ hadn't taken some idiotic vow. He hadn't!

"Seta-kun?"

"Yes?"

"What happened to that bokken I leant you?"

Soujirou's shoulders twitched, "Er."

Enishi knew what that meant immediately. He sighed and tilted his head to look up at the clouds, "It looks like you'll need a new weapon. Again."

"Heh heh, you noticed that."

"I can't believe you destroyed another one."

"I hope it wasn't valuable," Soujirou said, his smile slowly returning, "Because I'm not paying for it."

* * *

Soujirou getting in contact with his emotions and Enishi rediscovering his body. Sound all right?

Anyways. I'm very sorry if I upset anyone with some of the more violent events in this chapter. But shit like this happens when people try to kill each other. Kenshin didn't take his vow for kicks.

See ya next chapter and please review! It helps me so much!


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